For 25 years, Dr. Laschinger has been investigating the impact of nursing work environments on nurses’ empowerment for professional practice, their health and well-being, and the role of leadership in creating empowering working conditions. A major focus of Dr. Laschinger’s research is examining the link between nursing work environments and nurse and client outcomes. The results of this research have been translated into several policy documents, including the Magnet Hospital Accreditation Program in the USA. Research findings have also been used to inform workplace practices in healthcare work settings worldwide. In 2009, Dr. Laschinger was awarded the Arthur Labatt Family Research Chair in Health Human Resources Optimization to lead a broad research agenda examining issues related to the planning and management of nursing and health services to ensure high quality care across healthcare sectors. She has received several prestigious national and international awards for her work in academic and professional communities, including the Distinguished University Professor Award and Hellmuth Prize at Western University and fellowships in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the American Academy of Nursing considered one of the highest honours for individuals in these fields. Laschinger has also been appointed by the Ontario Minister of Heather as Healthy Work Environment Champion for the province. She has served on numerous advisory groups at the provincial and federal levels in relation to healthy workplace issues.
Her current projects as Principal Investigator include two Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded studies: (1) a national study of new graduate nurses’ transitions to the workforce (2) a national study of nurses' career aspirations to management positions, and (3) a SHRCC funded longitudinal study of new graduate nurses’ worklife with a focus on predictors and outcomes of new graduates’ experiences of bullying in Canadian hospital settings within the first two years of practice.
Heather K. Spence Laschinger
RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAHS
Distinguished University Professor and
Arthur Labatt Family Endowed Chair in Health Human Resources Optimization
Contact Information
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences
Health Sciences Addition H41
University of Western Ontario
1151 Richmond Street
London, Ontario N6A 5C1
Phone: (519) 661-2111 ext.86567
Fax: (519) 661-3410
Email: hkl@uwo.ca
